A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1008 Because it’s worth it
A heavy rain came down.

The people stationed on Luoji Island all looked at the rain curtain and laughed brightly.

Some people even ran directly into the rain to soak themselves in the rain.

"Do these people like being in the rain so much?"

Wu Huaiyu stood in front of the window of the seven-story tower in Muzha City, watching the actions of the people on the island, and explained to his son, "They don't like to be in the rain, but they like rain, or in other words, they like water."

"This island is in the sea, and there is water everywhere around it?"

"That is sea water. The most precious thing in the sea is not fish, shrimp or money, but water, drinkable fresh water."

"Is there no fresh water on this island?"

"You also see that this island is only so big. It is a rocky island without even a mountain. Although there are trees on the island, there is not much soil."

There is groundwater, which is fresh water stored in the sand layer when it rains, but it is salty due to the penetration of sea water, making it barely drinkable.

But in the inland sea protected by the atoll, it was calm. The crew and passengers resting on Luoji Island were quietly enjoying the heavy rain.

Several immigrants were sitting in the wooden house and couldn't help but sigh, "You said the sea is so dangerous. How did the Wu family discover Luzon, which is two to three thousand miles away from Guangzhou?
That's in the deep ocean. "

"Do you know what this island is called now?"

A passenger next to him answered, "It must be the route of countless ships."

It took an unimaginable price to discover Luzon, and it took a lot of hardships and sacrifices to finally find a safe and stable route.

It's a simple sentence, but everyone can hear the meaning. There must have been countless failures, and each failure may often mean that the ship and the people on it will escape death.

Now their journey here has been quite safe and smooth, as it was all the path taken by their predecessors.

When it rained, everyone ran out and stood in the rain to take a shower.
Collect rainwater for cooking, laundry, etc.

Fortunately, there is this island and this inner lake. Many immigrant passengers from the mainland have turned pale as they feel the power of the wind, rain and nature. They are just a group of landlubbers, sitting on the tall building with thousands of materials. On the boat, everyone was still very scared.

People stationed on the island still rely on collecting rainwater, and the fresh water salted underground is used to irrigate vegetable fields.

Within nearly a thousand miles around here, this is the only place with fresh water resources.

Nowadays, drinking water on the island mainly relies on rainfall from the sky. Many rainwater collection devices have been built on the island, and there are many water towers, pools and cellars. Fortunately, this is not an arid area in the northwest, and there is still a lot of rainfall here. .

It's raining heavily,
The wind on the island is high and the waves are strong, and the momentum is terrifying.

If there would be no island,

Otherwise, this island also has an area of ​​several thousand acres. With the advantage of being an important route, it is no problem to build a transit trade port like Penghu. However, due to lack of fresh water, it can only maintain the current small scale.

People look very small here,

Especially in this deep sea, more than 600 miles away from the Pearl River Estuary.

"Sweetwater."

They were still sailing on the sea. The huge waves and the strong wind were going to smash the ship into pieces. Just thinking about it made them look pale and ugly, and it felt like their heart was being squeezed.

But even so, the ships passing by now have to carry some fresh water supplies to the island as a rule. The fresh water brought by these ships is mainly reserved for passing ships and fishermen. If a ship runs out of fresh water, it will be replenished. There is also preparation.

This island is in such an important position, but there are not many people stationed there, mainly because of the limitation of fresh water resources.

After a while of silence, a young man asked, "Why are the Wu family looking for Luzon in the sea?"

It was still the person who answered the call just now, "Because it's worth it,"

“Do you know how big Luzon is?”

Everyone shook their heads. They came from all over the Central Plains and accepted the recruitment of workers in Luzon. They went to Luzon. Although they had signed an immigration contract, they didn’t know much about the Luzon they were about to go to. They only knew that it was a large island in the sea south of Guangzhou in Lingnan.

But I didn't expect this island to be so far away from the mainland, thousands of miles away.

"It is said that the plains on Luzon Island are larger than the Guanzhong Plains. There are tens of millions of acres of land that can be cultivated."

"Tens of millions of acres. Even if each household is granted 100 acres of land, that is enough to be distributed to hundreds of thousands of households. And this is only the Luzon Plain on Luzon Island, the northeast and southeast of the island. There is also a large plain and many mountainous areas..."

Everyone exclaimed, "Isn't it possible? One plain covers tens of millions of acres? Isn't Luzon an island?"

"It's an island, but it's just a big one. For example, Zhuya Island in the south has five prefectures on it, and Liuqiu Island in the northeast was also developed by Duke Wu a few years ago. Now the island is There are also two states,”

"It is said that Luzon Island is as big as three Liuqiu Islands, and Liuqiu and Zhuya Islands combined are only two-thirds of it. And to the south of Luzon Island, there are many large and small islands... ·”

"How do you know so much? Have you been to Luzon?"

"Well, I went there once,"

Everyone immediately gathered around curiously, "Is Luzon really that big and good?"

"Brother, what do you do?"

"I am a businessman who sells goods. This time I sold a batch of kitchen knives, she knives, wild boar spears, iron pots, nails, iron needles and other iron goods from Yangjiang, Enzhou to Luzon," Wu Huaiyu said with a smile.

No one doubted this. An immigrant from Lingnan said, "The kitchen knives in Yangjiang, Enzhou are very famous and have a good reputation. If you can sell Yangjiang kitchen knives, you will definitely make money on this trip."

Wu Huaiyu chatted with everyone easily.

They were all passengers from the Hainan Black Stone, and they looked familiar to each other. The people on the same ship on the island were also arranged together, so they naturally seemed closer to each other.

After arriving on the island today, we had a sumptuous seafood meal. Everyone was very satisfied.

There is food in the belly, it is raining outside, the rain washes away the sultry heat,

It was quite pleasant to sit and talk all over the world. Wu Huaiyu said that he had been to Luzon to sell goods, so everyone gathered around him and asked about various situations in Luzon, and Wu Huaiyu started to talk to everyone. , I also ask everyone from time to time where they are from, how they got on the ship, their future plans, etc.

After a while, everyone's background was clearly understood.

The young man in long robes who had previously talked loudly on the ship and pretended to be a scholar was exposed by Wu Chengzhi on the ship and was despised by everyone.
Wu Huaiyu asked someone to check his details and talked to him alone again.

This man is only twenty years old. His hometown is indeed Yangzhou, and his real name is Zhang Cheng. However, he is not a member of the Sanji Zhang family, nor is he the nephew of Zhang Yue's brother. He is not a student from the state and has never participated in the imperial examination.

This man was originally the son of a tenant farmer in the countryside of Yangzhou. Because his family was poor, he worked as a kid to herd pigs for the landlord in the village. When he grew up, he worked as an apprentice in a grain shop in the county. He was quite clever and intelligent.

As for why he, a grain store clerk, appeared on the ship to Luzon, it was also because he was twenty years old, but he still couldn't see any future prospects.

He was not willing to be exploited by his boss in the grain store and be ordered around by the shopkeeper. He wanted to marry a wife, start a family, and even thought about becoming a shopkeeper and a landlord in the future.

But these can only be thought about in dreams while sleeping,
In reality he has no chance.

Until one day he went to Yangzhou City with the shopkeeper and saw the Wu family's recruitment list. He heard that the Wu family had many unimaginable and generous conditions for recruiting workers.

After finishing his work and returning to the county, Zhang Cheng could no longer feel at ease.

He didn't want to stay in this grain store like this all his life, working until his waist was bent, and still an old bachelor. He didn't want to be unable to save a few pennies all year round.

Finally, one morning when the sky was slightly bright,

He left a message on the counter in the shop and left without saying goodbye.

He entered a shop as an apprentice when he was eight years old, and suddenly he had worked in the grain shop for twelve years. In addition to working as a cow and a horse in the shop, he also learned something, such as being able to recognize some common words and memorize simple things. account.

He rushed to Yangzhou, but had already missed the job recruitment. Unwilling to accept it, he took the little money he had saved and chased all the way to Guangzhou.

With that smart mouth, he was able to get to Hong Kong.
Finally, he was forced to board the ship to Luzon.

He could not suppress his desire to go to Lingnan to work hard and start a business from scratch in Lingnan, but he was not willing to sign up to be recruited as a shop assistant or to go to Luzon to work as a land reclamation farmer.
He wants to get ahead,
So he boldly gave himself a false identity, a descendant of the Zhang family in Yangzhou, and went out to travel. He felt that he knew some words, could count and keep accounts, and made up his identity as a member of a wealthy family. When he arrived in Luzon, he hoped to find a job as a retainer and staff, or at least as a shopkeeper, maybe the third shopkeeper.

Anyway, he doesn't want to be a waiter anymore, as it will be difficult for him to make a name for himself.

Since we have gone all the way south, we should be bolder.

It's just that this kid used to work as a clerk in a grain store in a small county town. Although he is no better than a farmer's son in the countryside, the information he has learned through contact is also limited.
He bought a boat ticket,
He got on the boat and pretended to be Mr. Zhang, but his cover was soon exposed to Wu Huaiyu and his son. The things he used to brag about were actually things he had heard from others in the small county town in the past, such as Zhang the butcher, Zhao the tailor, Liu the cobbler and Gao Yamen. , and they are not learned people.

After Wu Huaiyu figured out the details of Zhang Cheng, he didn't blame him.

It's not illegal to brag.

Even if this kid is a little bold, who dares to go to Luzon these days is not bold.

Not to mention that this boy was just a grain shop boy. He committed murder and arson. Now he wanted to escape to Luzon. Wu Huaiyu would not do anything to him if he knew the details.

Luzon can accept everyone,

Everything in the past can be abandoned there, and as long as you are willing to start over, there is still a chance.

Wu Huaiyu admired Zhang Cheng very much.

Young and bold,

And determination and perseverance are also good,
Deciding to go to Luzon, even if he didn't catch up with the recruitment, he was able to run all the way to Guangzhou, set foot on the Hong Kong Port, and finally squeezed onto the ship to Luzon.

Courageous, determined, even perseverant, and still very young,

If a guy like this is trained properly, he still has a bright future.

Luzon is short of people.
This kind of young man deserves to be accepted,

Although everyone on the ship disliked this liar,
But in the end, Wu Huaiyu asked him to work with him. He did not reveal his identity, only saying that he was a businessman selling goods to Luzon.

The salary he paid Zhang Cheng was pretty good. When he arrived in Luzon, Zhang Cheng went to sell kitchen knives and other goods, and he could get some commission on the goods sold.

This made Zhang Cheng, who was already very uneasy, feel grateful and happy, and finally chose to follow his boss.

Zhang Cheng was sitting in a corner of the room,
It's raining and foggy outside,

Everyone in the room gathered around the host to listen to him talk about Luzon. This scene was just like the scene before when he was on the boat talking to everyone about the past and the present as Young Master Zhang of Yangzhou.
It's just that he is a fake scholar, but he is the real boss.

Luzon, Zhang Cheng is full of expectations for it.

(End of this chapter)